HWDSB Schools Ready to Cram-A-Cruiser

The generous donations of food and money collected by HWDSB schools are about to be crammed into police cruisers on their way to help our neighbours at Hamilton Food Share.

Cram-A-Cruiser challenges schools to collect enough non-perishable items to fill a police cruiser. Students run food drives at their school and then visiting Hamilton Police officers arrive to help load the cruiser, which occurs May 17.

“A staggering one in three people that access the food bank in Ontario are children,” Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons, the organizer of the food drive, said in a release.

“We consistently reinforce education as the catalyst to success. However, when you can’t eat, you can’t compete in the classroom or on the playing field. Our goal is to help ensure every Canadian lives with dignity in difficult times.”

This year, 14 schools from HWDSB are participating, and all coin drives and cash donations will be matched up to $40,000.

Cram-A-Cruiser is part of the Just Give campaign, organized by the Pinball Clemons Foundation. The program runs with police departments in eight regions, and helps 14 foodbanks in Niagara, Waterloo, Hamilton, Halton, Peel, Toronto, York and Durham.

The inspiration behind the program is to fill food banks for the summer, a time when food supply declines, and client visits increase.

Hamilton Food Share is the grateful recipient of Cram-A-Cruiser donations for the third consecutive year. The non-profit organization gathers more than 2.5 million pounds of food to support need in Hamilton.

Totals aren’t in yet but last year, the 25 participating schools from HWDSB, Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board and the Islamic School of Hamilton collected 11,325 pounds of food for Hamilton Food Share.

After sending students home with Tim Horton’s cups to collect change, A.M. Cunningham elementary has already raised an outstanding $2,600.

“Every successful food drive comes down to extremely dedicated teachers, staff, and parents,” said Celeste Taylor, Resource Development Manager at Hamilton Food Share. “We are really appreciative of the effort that is put in to help support students in learning about how they can help the community.”

Tune into 95.3 Fresh Radio’s Facebook Live with Darrin Laidman and Colleen Rusholm on May 17 at 10 a.m. when police visit Rosedale Elementary School to Cram-A-Cruiser.